The Middletown Mansfields were a Baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 team in Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...

. The Mansfields were a member of the National Association

National Association of Professional Base Ball Players

The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , or simply the National Association , was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season...

 in 1872. The baseball team was organized by Ben Douglas Jr., who named the team after his great-uncle General Joseph Mansfield

Joseph K. Mansfield

Joseph King Fenno Mansfield was a career United States Army officer, civil engineer, and a Union general in the American Civil War, mortally wounded at the Battle of Antietam.-Early life:...

. They were managed by catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

 John Clapp

John Clapp (baseball)

John Edgar Clapp , nicknamed "Honest John", was a professional baseball player-manager whose career spanned 12 seasons, 11 of which were spent with the Major League Baseball Middletown Mansfields , Philadelphia Athletics , St...

, and they finished with a record of 5-19. Their home games were played at the Mansfield Club Grounds

Mansfield Club Grounds

Mansfield Club Grounds, also known as Mansfield Park and Fort Hill Grounds, is a former baseball ground located in Middletown, Connecticut. The ground was home to the Middletown Mansfields baseball club during the 1872 season, from May 2nd until July 4th. Like the team, it was named after Civil...

 in Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...

.

Among their players was future Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...

 outfielder

Outfielder

Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...

 Jim O'Rourke, who was a 21-year-old rookie

Rookie

Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...

. He batted .307 in 23 games at shortstop

Shortstop

Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...

, catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

, and third base

Third Base

is a 1978 Japanese film directed by Yōichi Higashi.-External links:...

. Also on the team was the star pitcher for the undefeated 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings

Cincinnati Red Stockings

The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first fully professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players 1867–1870, a time of a transition that ambitious Cincinnati,...

, Asa Brainard

Asa Brainard

Asahel "Asa" Brainard , nicknamed "Count", was the ace pitcher of the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team, after having pitched for the Excelsior club of Brooklyn, New York....

. Another player on the team was Ham Allen

Ham Allen

Frank Erwin Allen was an American professional baseball player who played as a outfielder and a shortstop during the 1872 season for the Middletown Mansfields in the National Association.He served in the Civil War from 1862-1863....

 who batted .271 in 17 games.

Obstacles for a small town like Middletown to operate and compete against big city teams like Boston, New York, and Baltimore were many, so on August 14, 1872, closed their books and ended their one and only major league season.

External links

• Major League Baseball in Gilded Age Connecticut: The Rise and Fall of the Middletown, New Haven and Hartford Clubs (complete history of Middletown Mansfields)
• Baseball Reference Team Index
• Middletown Mansfield Base Ball Club 1866-1872
• Middletown's Season In The Sun
• Middletown Mansfield Batting Register